1. Afanasyeva's floor not medalling
2. The general state of FX's
3. The Russians crumbling in the TF
4. Yao Jinnan's troubles
5. Hannah Whelan scoring a 0 on vault
6. Gabby and Vika losing it in the EF's
7. All the bloody awful leotards
8. Philipp Boy
9. All the tiebreak

1. Condition of Yao Jinnan. I'm still shocked and that vault scared the shit out of me.
2. Larisa Iordache. Not what I wanted to see.
3. Bloody ties
4. Too many misses especially on the womens side
5. Kohei Uchimura who honestly I thought looked a mess
6. Phillip Boy injuring his foot on bloody vault
7. Ponor and beam. If only she did her beam like in Team Final
8. So many routines missed due to waiting for scores. :bleh:

Surprises:

1. Marcel Nguyen
2. Weiber not making AA finals
3. Grishina UB score
4. Maroney missing her vault
5. Raisman scoring 15.6 on floor when I thought no way in hell that would happen.

Hopes

1. Anastasia Grishina finds redemption
2. Larisa Iordache finds redemption
3. Yao Jinnan finds redemption
4. Wieber comes back
5. Ohashi sorts her vault troubles so she can become one of the top AAers of the next quad
6. Russian men kick butt in Rio.

"She says that she has not been home for 7 months and the thing she misses the most is her dog! She saw her mom in London and her dad after she came out of the car, so now she misses her dog!

She confirms that she said that she wanted to retire in the midst of emotion but now she wants to continue.

Everyone is so happy for her. Her dad says that most people just dream of going to the Olympics, so to win two silvers is huge. He says that she went to win gold but then laughs and says she told him she would bring them back in the next Olympics.

Her dad says that she will rest and then Vika and her coach will decide to continue training or continue resting, that it will be a joint decision. "

Closed 11 and lets just let sleeping dogs lie with 12 part 1 so carry on with 12 part deux!!

Seriously though - WHAT are we going to do?

HIGHS
Aliya!!!!! and I have a montage already in the works
Gabby's AA win
US WAG team in general
BRIT MAG team and Tweddle
McKayla's TF vault
Komova's AA FX
Zonderland stopping Zou Kai from winning HB
Raisman for sending a gazillion gym snobs into total meltdown

LOWS
US mens team - WTF happened after prelims??????
VT EF - nuff said
Raisman's parents I would totally be if I was so unfortunate to have been sat behind them!
NBC coverage - downloaded it for a laugh and the different camera angles but BBC is just soooooo much better it isn't even funny.

Horton has said he is not returing and will be making a run for Rio as long as his body holds out. I love him, but I don't expect him to make too many more teams. Even for London, we could have made up a team that was equally strong if he had been left at home (although not really stronger) but taking him gave us more experience and leadership. The young guys will likely to continue to outdistance him. But as long as he enjoys training and competing for its own sake, he should keep doing it.

"Grishina was supposed to be among the key players, who could compete for medals at this Olympics. However, it turned out to be a failure, as everyone got into (a) final (s), but her..In my opinion, this was an outright error..."

Ouch!

Apparently Boginskaya was hard to work with. Bet he has some tales to tell

Really interesting interview. Yeah the bits about Grishina were certainly a bit chilly.

Hope he stays with the Russian team because despite the tears and not accomplishing everything they were hoping for, they've come a long way since 2008. I hope the girls stay healthy and that their accomplishments influence more kids to take up gymnastics, because the lack of depth will still limit the team for years to come.

The scary thing is that he brings up Valentina stating to the press that Aliya was only a medal threat on bars. Apparently Mustafina commented on it to Alexandrov after she took bronze in the All Around. Some are saying that the Rodionenkos although who knows don't think much of Mustafina in general. Hopefully that changed seeing as right (although I haven't checked for sure) she's actually the most decorated Russian athlete at the Olympics. They should be kissing this girl's feet. Just about every good thing that has happened for Russian gymnastics that girl has delivered for them-over and over again.

From a once-every-four-years gymnastics fan, these were my impressions:

MUSTAFINAAA!!! She's a freakin QUEEN!! A deliciously dramatic diva! There's a glorious aura about her. She has an amazing sense of theatrics! I just couldn't take my eyes off of her. When she's mad, I love it. When she's victorious, I love it. When she's a leader, I love it. When she's motherly (towards Komova), I love it. LOVE her! And what a face! Huge fan of hers, and I'm so glad she won her tie-breakers.

I love Gabby's personality, but she's a gymnast who I'd only enjoy when she's on. and not just on (as in Qualifications), but ON (ala AA). I was very happy she won the AA.

Komova bored me to tears 80% of the time. I recognized her great lines and style, but whereas Mustafina turned her fear and nervousness into great drama, Komova just faded into the background. But I gotta say: Her UB routine in the AA was amazing, and even more so was that AA Floor exercise! The BEST floor exercise of the whole Olympics. When she's confidant and delivers, I'm buying what she's selling

Is it me or is Aly Raisman very robotic in everything she does? Wasn't a big fan.

Big fan of kohei uchimura. Had many unfortunate moments, but even then I could see that he was worth the hype

How freaking AMAZING was Zonderland and his brilliant horizontal bar routine?!? Most memorable performance for me on the horizontal bar since Alexei Nemov in Athens

Question: If I want to start becoming a more regular fan of gymnastics, what events should I look out for? ie when does a season typically starts, and what are the main events to look out for? I'm assuming there's a worlds championship and a European championship every year, what else? Is there something akin to the GP series in skating?

From a once-every-four-years gymnastics fan, these were my impressions:

MUSTAFINAAA!!! She's a freakin QUEEN!! A deliciously dramatic diva! There's a glorious aura about her. She has an amazing sense of theatrics! I just couldn't take my eyes off of her. When she's mad, I love it. When she's victorious, I love it. When she's a leader, I love it. When she's motherly (towards Komova), I love it. LOVE her! And what a face! Huge fan of hers, and I'm so glad she won her tie-breakers.

I love Gabby's personality, but she's a gymnast who I'd only enjoy when she's on. and not just on (as in Qualifications), but ON (ala AA). I was very happy she won the AA.

Komova bored me to tears 80% of the time. I recognized her great lines and style, but whereas Mustafina turned her fear and nervousness into great drama, Komova just faded into the background. But I gotta say: Her UB routine in the AA was amazing, and even more so was that AA Floor exercise! The BEST floor exercise of the whole Olympics. When she's confidant and delivers, I'm buying what she's selling

Is it me or is Aly Raisman very robotic in everything she does? Wasn't a big fan.

Big fan of kohei uchimura. Had many unfortunate moments, but even then I could see that he was worth the hype

How freaking AMAZING was Zonderland and his brilliant horizontal bar routine?!? Most memorable performance for me on the horizontal bar since Alexei Nemov in Athens

Question: If I want to start becoming a more regular fan of gymnastics, what events should I look out for? ie when does a season typically starts, and what are the main events to look out for? I'm assuming there's a worlds championship and a European championship every year, what else? Is there something akin to the GP series in skating?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

from a fellow once every 4 years (or less often) watcher, i agree with most of what you said. i just *love* watching mustafina.

i would like to ask you, though, when during london olympics did you see that uchimura was worth the hype. in which event, on which apparatus, etc. i'm just curious, because i came to the conclusion that uchimura was special from watching youtube vids from 2011 and earlier. show me where i failed to see the light

From a once-every-four-years gymnastics fan, these were my impressions:

Question: If I want to start becoming a more regular fan of gymnastics, what events should I look out for? ie when does a season typically starts, and what are the main events to look out for? I'm assuming there's a worlds championship and a European championship every year, what else? Is there something akin to the GP series in skating?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I am in the same status as Mr. Fan, ususally watch every four years, but want to follow sport closer now. Have been going to skating competitions last three years and I want to go to some big time gymnastics competitions as well. Likewise, I don't know what to look for. I see the worlds is next fall in Antwerp. I see there was something called the America Cup in new york earlier this year which had the top Americans and Romanians, but I don't think any Russians such as Mustafina or Komova competed. If I want to watch all the top female gymnasts, is the worlds in Antwerp the only choice? I see the Kellog's tour stops in my city, just an exhibition but I will go to that. Although Bek has probably turned most of you off of Komova, she has turned me on to Komova, and I enjoy watching Iordache as well despite her substandard London performance.